In Your Words - Part 5

Dinner continued to be a quiet affair after this revelation. Alisah finishes her meal and quietly walks back to her room. Her laptop was still on and she knew that Kay was waiting for her response to his poem, but Alisah was not in the right frame of mind to judge another person's work now. She goes to her balcony and sits on her swing, her favorite spot in the house. Her balcony opened out to an empty piece of land that was under dispute since ages. This brought in fresh air into her room and she loved it. Looking back to see if the door to her room was locked, she slowly removes the pack of cigarettes from her pajama pocket and lights one. As the smoke fills her lungs, she replays the dinner conversation in her mind again and again. Thoughts of Arjun floods her mind. Arjun, her Arjun.

He was the favorite of everyone in her college. Students and teachers alike. The first time Alisah saw him, she was infatuated by his looks. At six feet four inches tall, Arjun was one hell of a good looking man. The teachers doted on him and all the students flocked to get his attention. He seemed to have a soft corner for Alisah as well. He smiled at her whenever she passed by the football court. They had begun talking and young Alisah was soon head over heels in love with him. A college trip to Goa had sealed it and soon Arjun was asking her to marry him. The proposal was as magical as Alisah had expected it to be. A campfire on the beach, a pathway of candles leading to a shack, a beautifully decorated table inside the tiny shack and a placard on the table reading "Will you marry me?", along with a dazzling diamond ring. Alisah had said yes on impulse, but wondered what her parents would think. She still had a year to finish in college and the age difference between her and Arjun was quite a concern. He after all was the football coach of her college team!As expected, her parents were against their relationship. She was just twenty one and Arjun was thirty five. She came from a very well off family, while Arjun was just a coach who hardly made any good income. The diamond ring that he had given Alisah had turned out to be fake too. But Alisah was determined that this was the man that she wanted to spend her life with. She fought her parents until they could do nothing about it. When she packed her bags one day and threatened to leave home, they could do nothing but agree to the wedding. The day Alisah married Arjun had been the happiest day of her life. They had a simple church wedding with only Alisah's parents and a few of Arjun's friends in attendance. His parents were settled abroad and could not make it, Arjun had said. Alisah looked beautiful as she lifted her veil and leaned towards her husband for a kiss. They rented a house in the city, not very far away from Alisah's mom's bakery. Alisah spent all her semester vacation decorating the house. She shopped for curtains, paintings, candles and everything else that made her happy. She still had her final semester to finish and was still using her father's money. Arjun did not seem to mind that one bit. He let her indulge in her fantasies and did not once complain. Alisah was so crazy about him that she hardly was prepared for her exams when they did come. Six months had passed and Alisah still felt like a new bride. She came alive every time they made love and Alisah just wanted to finish college and settle in domestic bliss. Her father wanted her to take up a job but she wanted to take a break and live her marriage to the fullest. Once she was done with her college and became a house wife, the problems started in her marriage. It was on their first year wedding anniversary that Arjun seemed upset. He wanted money to start a football coaching centre of his own. Alisah had asked her father for it, but he had refused to give the money. He did not mind his daughter using his money, but he wanted Arjun to make a living for himself. Arjun had not taken this well and began to pressurise Alisah to convince her parents. When she had refused to do so, he had slapped her hard. A little more than a year into their marriage Alisah had turned into a victim of domestic abuse. Arjun found new ways to torment her every day. He complained about the food she cooked, about the clothes she wore and about everything that she did. Alisah bore it all quietly as she did not want to go back to her parents and hurt them. But when Arjun started hurting her sexually, she couldn't take it anymore. He asked her to do things that she couldn't think about and forced himself on her every now and then. A year and two months after the marriage, Alisah was back in her parent's house and Arjun had disappeared thanks to a police complaint filed by his wife's father.

The strong smell of smoke brought her back to the present and she sees that the butt of the cigarette was now lit. She stubs it and throws it away and quickly lights another. She looks at the moon lit sky and wondered how could she have gone so wrong about Arjun. It had taken her more than a year to get over the pain caused by him. And it had taken her longer than that to fall in love again. A couple of failed relationships later, she had given up on love. But when Kay had come along, she had felt a sense of belonging. An urge to give love a chance again, even though she had no clue who he was. But now that Arjun was back, she did not know what to do. Was he back to claim her again? They had never been divorced after all. It had been ten years since she had walked out on her marriage, but today all the pain and all the memories felt so fresh.

While she sat on her swing and stared into emptiness, Kay's ping was waiting for her answer on her laptop.

About The Blog

Every written word in this space is my thoughts alone. Do not try to relate it to your life and create a scene in my circles. Believe me, if I wanted to write about someone who has wronged me, I'd write a story and kill that person off in the first line. As grotesquely as possible.
Stop making assumptions. But hey, if the shoe fits, lace up the bitch and wear it!

My Reading Dose

I'd read a shorter version of this in school and loved it back then. Now after I read this, I still feel the same. The smartness of Portia and the way she handles the entire situation with wit is commendable.

This probably is one of those books where I've loved every word, every situation, every page and every character (except the mother). It is such a wonderful story that I can't stop thinking about it even though I have finished reading th...

How I wish I had read this book as a child. Coraline is a dreamer and an explorer in own words. I loved the tale that the author has created and this is a very good children's book. As an adult, I did not enjoy the imaginary world that C...

I only heard of this book when it won the award for the best fiction of 2017 on Goodreads. I had immediately added it to my TBR back then. After that I read many glowing reviews of this book from bloggers whose recommendations I immensel...

I loved this book. This talks about the true nature and color of humans without all the unicorn fluff! The author has given a fantastic realistic twist to the otherwise silly and far-fetched tales.
While 'The beans of avarice' is my fa...